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Azerbaijan Regional Workshop on Social Solidarity Economy

On April 23 – 24, 2014, in the framework of the FLOW Project (Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women), a fund that has been created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands to improve the position of women in developing countries, Federation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan Xhidmat-ISH, StreetNet Affiliate, conducted the Regional Workshop on Social Solidarity Economy. This was held in Baku, Azerbaijan

In times of a current global crisis: the confrontation with today's challenges, such as high unemployment rates, increasing inequality, unacceptable conditions of people living in poverty and continuing global warming - oblige us to reconsider the economic and social development practices. Workers around the world are taking steps to form their own economic reality by doing business and creating jobs. And often it takes place in close cooperation with trade union organisations.

Taking into account the fact that such a notion as social solidarity economy is not the common issue for the current region, the workshop organisers decided to provide general information on this subject, focusing on the following: concept of social solidarity economy; cooperatives and trade unions - a partnership to achieve common goals.
In order to strengthen connections, exchange and coordination mechanisms necessary to implement solutions to the problems of the informal trade sector, the event organizers decided to invite representatives of StreetNet member organisations from Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

Decent Work Day - 1 May 2014, ILO statement

Tens of thousands of people in Cambodia and around the region are coming together today to mark May 1st. Their aspirations and concerns are legitimate and based on unquestionable universal values.

They firmly and rightly believe that quality of work and the respect for fundamental principles and rights at work are a source of personal dignity, family stability, peace in the community, and a beacon of credibility for democratic governance. These issues are at the very core of the International Labour Organization`s mandate and are central to its work across the world.

Sadness, Grief, and Uncertainty... Millions lost with huge fire in the Terminal Market, Guatemala City

GUATEMALA CITY. The largest wholesale market in Central America, with over 4,500 tenants, was largely destroyed by a devastating fire on 25 March 2014, shattering the lives of thousands of self/employed vendors and their families.
It is estimated that about 3,000 people visit it daily since it is possible to find variety of products and is located in the heart of the capital city.

Around 1600 stalls were destroyed by the fire, consuming all the products that were stored in these sections of the market. The disastrous situation becomes tragic when we consider that many of the tenants are now unable to trade, not only lacking vending space but also having to recover their capital and selling products. This is a big blow to the Guatemalan people's economy; many merchants are migrants from rural areas who have sought better opportunities for living and working in the city. Right now they cannot use the facilities and many sellers think this tragedy could have been avoided and even many businesses saved if there had been enough water to stop the initial fire, but the fire fighting operation continued for almost 12 hours.

Call for Support

As an Organization of Self-employed Workers of Guatemala, we empathise with vendors affected by the raging fire which destroyed the La Terminal Market market at zone 4 of Guatemala City. This central market housed an approximately 1600 formal tenants and a similar number of sellers in the surrounds without taking into account hawkers. In this tragedy over 3000 self-employed vendors have lost the product of their efforts, gained with great sacrifice, as well as their income to support their families, leaving many workers in debt. The incident has to be carelessness or malicious behaviour.

In this time of crisis we hope that "politicians and government" do not take advantage of this situation because it is not just to play with the pain and suffering of those affected.

The aim of StreetNet is to promote the exchange of information and ideas on critical issues facing street vendors, market vendors and hawkers (i.e. mobile vendors) and on practical organizing and advocacy strategies